15-year-old told to take out trash stabs dad six times in the back instead

This week, a Longmont teenager let his father know how much he didn't want to take out the trash -- with a knife, which he used to stab his dad in the back six times.

And as Longmont Police Commander Jeff Satur explains, that's not the only sharp instrument he used.

Satur says officers were called to a home on the 1000 block of Sunset Street at about 7:20 p.m. on Monday. "The kid had been asked to take out the trash, and he got angry about that," he notes. "Either he refused to do it or was having a fit about it. So the parents took his cell phone away."

This example of tough love didn't exactly deescalate the situation. "He went out to the shed, grabbed an ax, and broke down the parents' bedroom door," Satur continues. "My assumption is that's where he thought the cell phone was. Then, he armed himself with a folding knife" -- the one seen in the LPD photo below.

"He told his dad that he was going to go out and slash his tires," Satur continues. "So the dad tries to stop him and grabs him in a kind of bear hug -- and while he was holding him, the kid started stabbing him in the back."

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Even though the knife has a three-inch blade, the sextet of wounds the teen inflicted weren't life-threatening. Indeed, Satur says the father was treated and released from an area hospital later that evening.

He adds that the boy had calmed down by the time police arrived -- maybe because he knew the drill. Satur confirms that the teen, who attends what he describes as a "special-needs school," has had "some police contact in the past," although nothing of the magnitude of this week's incident, for which he was arrested on four charges, including suspicion of first-degree assault and felony menacing.

No word about whether he's gotten his cell phone back yet -- or if the trash ever got taken out.

Michael Roberts has written for Westword since October 1990, serving stints as music editor and media columnist. He currently covers everything from breaking news and politics to sports and stories that defy categorization.